We make fashion sustainable.

There is a way to put fashion first without putting the environment second. There is a way to turn used cotton and viscose into new biodegradable pulp, new fibers, new yarn, new fabrics and new garments that can be produced and worn with a clear conscience. Because we have closed the loop. Recycling clothes finally works. Welcome to re:newcell, where fashion becomes sustainable.

We have closed the loop

Before a shirt is worn for the first time it has been through more steps than most customers realize. Often one producer makes the yarn, another knits or weaves it into textile fabric, and a third makes the shirt from the fabric. Now it’s ready for the customer to wear.

When garments are worn out or no longer wanted some are sold second-hand or used as hand-me-downs, but the vast majority end up in landfills or are incinerated. Much too few are recycled due to the fact that cotton and viscose can’t be recycled with satisfactory quality on a large enough scale. The cycle stops, because there is a hole in the loop, a crucial part is missing. Until now.

Our recycling technology dissolves used cotton and other natural fibers into a new, biodegradable raw material, re:newcell pulp. It can be turned into textile fiber, be fed into the textile production cycle and meet industry specifications. This is the link that has been missing from the cycle. We have closed the loop. The way fashion is produced and consumed can finally be transformed into a never-ending loop.

Fashion changes,sustainability remains

If the world’s population increases as expected, there will be 8.5 billion people by 2030. And as the population grows, apparel consumption grows with it. But producing even more apparel will have significant impact on water use, CO2 emissions, use of chemicals and waste disposal. It’s not sustainable. Something has to change. Our process of recycling cotton fibers and viscose fibers uses less water and chemicals, emits less CO2 and prolongs the usage of the world’s resources. More used cotton garments can be collected and the volume of garments made from our recycled, biodegradable textile fibers can increase.

If one kilo of clothing is recycled instead of being produced from virgin sources, it saves thousands of liters of water and decreases emissions of both CO2 and chemicals.

Paris, Milan, New York, Kristinehamn

Our recycling technology transforms high cellulosic waste into pure, natural dissolving pulp, re:newcell pulp. It's an efficient process that reuses chemicals, and it's up and running in our first plant in Kristinehamn, Sweden.

The process:

We receive used garments with high cellulosic content (cotton and viscose).

The textiles are shredded, de-buttoned, de-zipped, de-colored and turned into a slurry.

Contaminants and other non-cellulosic content are separated from the slurry.

The slurry is dried to produce a pure, natural re:newcell pulp, which is packaged into bales and fed into the textile production cycle.

Using this process, the Kristinehamn plant produces 7,000 tons of biodegradable re:newcell pulp per year. We know it’s a drop in the ocean – the textile industry produces millions of tons of dissolving pulp every year – but it’s a drop that sends ripples that can change the fashion industry.

Tests have compared textile fibers made from re:newcell pulp with textile fibers made from dissolving pulp made from wood. Our fibers have higher quality in a number of areas: tensile strength in both wet and dry condition, dyestuff absorbation and in withstanding high abrasion.

We happily receive any kind of used garments or textile waste with a high content of natural fibers. Fibers made from re:newcell pulp have a lot in common with cotton fibers. They are organic, sustainable and allow for a better use of the planet’s resources.